Relationships Foster Collaboration

The Burke Group Team

Relationships, Expertise and Critical Thinking

With over 75 years of collective senior-level experience, The Burke Group has led multiple transformational transactions in the Southeast. The firm is an independent, team-owned investment banking firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. Completing over 100 transactions, the Principals and their team bring a wealth of expertise and have formed lasting client relationships. Clients benefit from customized, hands-on problem solving from the firm’s Principals and the flexibility of a small firm.

Jon Burke

Principal and Co-founder

Jon Burke, Principal

Jon founded and built one of the country’s top-ranked advisory firms – Burke Capital. It became the preeminent bank advisory firm for nearly fifteen years in the Southeast, being well known as having unequaled access to most of the leaders of the banking industry. Prior to founding Burke Capital, Jon was a senior officer at The Robinson Humphrey Company, where he led the banking and financial institution research effort. Jon played a critical role in assisting Robinson Humphrey’s various commercial banking offerings including corporate finance and trading. He was particularly known for assisting in bank M&A and capital assignments. Jon is considered one of the leading authorities on banking and financial institutions in the Southeast largely due to his role as advisor on key transactions in the market. Jon is a CFA and holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of Georgia and an MBA from Georgia State University.

Bill Herrell

Principal and Co-founder

Bill Herrell, Principal

Bill has been with Jon and Denny since late 2008 and is a co-founder of The Burke Group. He was most recently a Managing Director in the FIG banking practice at Morgan Keegan. He has worked at FSI Capital, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and Bank of America (fka NationsBank) as well as spending six years in the insurance industry. While at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Bill conceptualized and led the bank trust preferred efforts resulting in $1.8 billion of private capital transactions in eighteen months for community banks. He has been a frequent speaker for the FFIEC in Washington, DC and served as an expert witness on the securities industry. He has spoken at various banking industry and state banking conferences on capital raising and mergers and acquisitions. Bill received a BBA in Finance and Insurance from Eastern Kentucky University and an MS in Finance from Boston College.

Denny Wolfarth

Senior Advisor and Co-founder

Denny Wolfarth, Senior Advisor

Denny has broad experience in advising on M&A and corporate finance transactions and founded Burke Capital with Jon. Denny began his career at Arthur Andersen & Co., where he was a partner in the firm’s Atlanta office. While at Arthur Andersen, his experience included advising middle market companies on corporate finance matters and working on M&A transactions. Prior to joining Jon in 1996, Denny was a senior executive for a multi-divisional manufacturing company with sales in excess of $400 million. As a co-founder of Burke Capital, Denny has served as the Managing Principal of the firm’s broker dealer subsidiary and led a number of M&A and capital raising projects. He is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) and holds a BS in Business Administration from The Ohio State University and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin.

Matt Gordon

Director

Matt Gordon, Director

Matt joined The Burke Group in 2014 and currently serves as a Director. Prior to joining The Burke Group, he was a Senior Associate at Deloitte Corporate Finance as a result of Deloitte’s acquisition of McColl Partners, where he worked as an Associate in the firm’s Financial Institutions Group. While at Deloitte Corporate Finance and McColl Partners, Matt worked on a broad range of middle market corporate advisory assignments in the financial services and community bank industries. Matt started his career as an Investment Banking Analyst with Morgan Keegan in Atlanta, where he worked in the Financial Institutions Group. Matt received a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Drew Stelling

Director

Drew Stelling, Director

Drew joined The Burke Group in August 2012 and currently serves as a Director. He was previously an Analyst at Morgan Keegan, where he worked primarily in the FIG investment banking group. He also spent time in the Specialty Finance and General Industrials investment banking groups of Raymond James following its acquisition of Morgan Keegan. Drew received a BBA in Finance from the University of Georgia.

Adam Gardner

Associate

Adam Gardner, Associate

Adam joined The Burke Group as an Analyst in June of 2016 and was promoted to Associate in July 2018. Prior to joining, Adam passed Level I of the CFA Program. Adam received a BBA in Finance from the Terry Business School at The University of Georgia.

David Ge

Associate

David Ge, Associate

David joined The Burke Group as an Analyst in June of 2015 and was promoted to Business Development Associate in July 2018. In this role, David is responsible for developing and executing new client relationships. Prior to joining The Burke Group, David was in the investment management industry on the buy side at Principal Global Investors, working in equities. David started his career as an entrepreneur creating a competitive business model in the internet poker industry, pre-SAFE Port Act. David graduated with a double major in Finance and Risk Management Insurance from Eastern Kentucky University.

Collaboration Creates Ideas

SERVICES

Critical Thinking Amidst Uncertain Markets

Mergers & Acquisitions

From relationships and idea generation to execution, M&A is the founding legacy of the firm. Problem-solving paired with deep industry knowledge allows clients to focus on executable advantageous transactions. Deep industry relationships create an environment for open communication among transaction parties paving the way for execution.

Capital Raising

Capital raising is difficult. The principals have raised large amounts of a number of differing types of capital in both public and private markets. They have assembled a knowledge base for clients allowing for deep discussions of the advantages and challenges. This broad exposure allows for unique approaches to the many challenges of raising capital.

Strategic Advisory

Objective, actionable advice is the core of The Burke Group. Consultation not commodities drive our assignments. Idea generation, critical thinking, evaluation of multiple options for capital, strategic growth and acquisitions—all are supported by a vast and expanding base of industry relationships and experiences. The firm’s advisory work is independent of any conflict inherent in larger firms.

Troubled Restructuring

Unfortunately, the recent economy leads some clients to consider difficult decisions. The Principals have the detailed planning, capital markets, capital structure and restructuring experience to assist Boards and Management through these unpalatable situations.